decided to investigate on his own. He couldn’t have known Parker had caught him on a security camera.
That explained why it’d taken a few days between Rudolf handing the list to Pastor Bradshaw and falling down the stairs. Kir wiped the blood from his cheek as he battled his urge to howl in frustration. If only . . .
The thick darkness only emphasized Kir’s wave of bleak despair. As if it were a living force that was sucking away his will to continue his futile fight. Then, with an effort, Kir forced himself to concentrate on the sound of Parker’s movements. Dammit, he was going to end up dead if he didn’t keep himself focused.
“You killed my father because he trespassed?” he demanded in sharp tones.
There was a pause, as if Parker was surprised Kir hadn’t curled in a ball of fear. Did the lunatic sense the evil that pulsed through the frigid air? Or was he the cause of the evil?
“I went to his house to confront him. It wasn’t until I demanded the list that I realized he hadn’t known it belonged to me,” Parker at last revealed. “Then it was too late. I had to silence him.”
Parker was still speaking when he struck out, but this time he didn’t slash with the knife. He instead kicked out. Kir managed to dodge a direct blow, and even got in a kick of his own. Parker grunted as Kir’s foot slammed into his knee.
“Silence him by breaking his skull?” Kir demanded, feeling something icy on his nape. A breeze. He was close to the entrance.
“You have no idea how painful his death has been to me,” Parker protested, managing to sound genuinely aggrieved. As if he wasn’t the one who’d thrown Rudolf down the stairs. “Unlike you, I truly cared about your father.”
Kir ignored the man’s false pity as he came to a halt. The sound of Parker’s footsteps had moved to the side. Was he trying to cut him off? Or was he hoping to flee through the exit and go in search of Lynne?
Either way, Kir sensed things were about to happen. He needed to be ready.
“And Rita?” he asked, determined to keep the conversation going so he could pinpoint Parker’s exact location.
It felt as if they were in a standoff, neither willing to make the first move. Eventually something, or someone, was going to break.
“That bitch,” Parker spat out. “She should never have stolen those letters from the grave. They were private.”
“You ran her over?”
Parker chuckled. “Like a dog.”
Kir hissed at the mocking words. The pig. The cruel, evil-hearted pig.
“You can’t silence everyone,” he rasped.
“There’s just you. And Lynne,” Parker assured him. “Then I’ll disappear and become someone new. It was my plan all along.”
Kir clenched his muscles, prepared to make his dash toward the tunnel across the room. “Have you heard the saying about the best-laid plans?”
“Yes.”
Without warning a brilliant flare of light flooded the room. As if the sun had suddenly crashed into the air base. Kir blinked, momentarily blinded by the high bay lights that flared to garish life.
“Which is why I always have a backup,” Parker drawled.
Narrowing his eyes, which felt as if they were being stabbed by the harsh glow, Kir belatedly realized Parker had dropped his knife and was holding a handgun.
“Shit.” He lunged to the side as the deafening explosion reverberated through the vast space.
Kir hit the ground, the breath knocked from his lungs. His rib ached and his face still burned, but he didn’t have a bullet in his head. He was going to take that as a win.
Unfortunately, he doubted he would be so lucky the next time. Already his vision was starting to clear. Which meant Parker’s vision would be clearing as well.
Rolling to the side, he planted his hands flat on the cement and then shoved himself upward. He glanced back even as he bent low and prepared to race toward the tunnel.
What he saw halted him in his tracks.
Parker was standing near the main entrance to the control room, his arm still lifted with the gun clutched in his hand. But he wasn’t looking at Kir. Instead he was reaching up with his free hand to grab the long silver tube sticking out of his neck just above his scarf. Kir frowned. What was that thing? It wasn’t until it dropped to the ground with a clatter that he remembered where he’d seen it before.
A dart. Only this one was twice the size of